27Synonyms found for right

Word Origin & History

right "morally correct," O.E. riht "just, good, fair, proper, fitting, straight," from P.Gmc. *rekhtaz (cf. O.H.G. reht, Ger. recht, O.N. rettr, Goth. raihts), from PIE base *reg- "move in a straight line," also "to rule, to lead straight, to put right" (see regal; cf. Gk. orektos "stretched out, upright;" L. rectus "straight, right;" O.Pers. rasta- "straight, right," arta- "rectitude;" O.Ir. recht "law;" Welsh rhaith, Breton reiz "just, righteous, wise"). Cf. slang straight "honest, morally upright," and L. rectus "right," lit. "straight," Lith. teisus "right, true," lit. "straight." Gk. dikaios ..."just" (in the moral and legal sense) is from dike "custom." The noun sense of "just claim" was in O.E. and P.Gmc. As an emphatic, meaning "you are right," it is recorded from 1588; use as a question meaning "am I not right?" is from 1961. The phrase to rights "at once, straightway" is 1663, from sense "in a proper manner" (M.E.). The sense in right whale is "justly entitled to the name." Phrase right off the bat is 1914, earlier hot from the bat (1888), probably a baseball metaphor; right stuff "best human ingredients" is from 1848, popularized by Tom Wolfe's 1979 book about the first astronauts. Right on! as an exclamation of approval first recorded 1925 in black slang, popularized mid-1960s by Black Panther movement. Right of way is attested from 1768.